ICC micro-governance on Srini-Sundar radar

insiderINDIAN Premier League COO Sundar Raman and BCCI supremo N Srinivasan may be under pressure from the Supreme Court and the media, but they are certainly not curtailing on any of their strategic plans.

Last week Raman was in Dubai speaking on a Host Cities conference on Sports. The theme was to showcase Dubai as a destination for sporting events. Raman has first hand experience with UAE following the IPL staged there in April-May 2014.

It was a different experience for IPL, something which drew huge crowds. No other match before or after the IPL in 2014 has drawn as many people at any of the grounds in the UAE.

With Srinivasan's role expanding to that of International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman in June 2014, it was hardly a surprise that Raman too chose to make frequent trips to the UAE. His remit: to be the ICC chairman's eyes and ears when it comes to international cricketing matters.

Raman has also got himself a UAE resident visa courtesy Emirates Cricket Board. So now he can travel in and out of UAE as many times as needed. This way he can keep the ICC under his watch. 

Srinivasan too has a resident visa of UAE following his elevation to the post of the ICC chairman. Together Srinivasan and Raman have managed to ensure that world cricket officially dances to India's tunes.

Till the duo combined forces, India was considered to be an enfant terrible which wanted to block matters and thoughts. Now with the takeover of the Big Three, there is no blocking anymore. Instead what the Srinivasan-Sundar combine decides becomes gospel truth.

It is hardly a surprise then that the action around the Srinivasan-Raman case in the Supreme Court has a lot of watchers in international cricketing circles.

Take the case of Raman. He has been under fire from te Supreme Court, but that has not stopped him from going about systematically doing a review of the functioning of the ICC. The first target of the Srinivasan-Raman combine was the overall working of the ICC in terms of the macro governance structure. Now the duo have begun targeting the micro level functioning of the ICC.

For a very long when observers took a look at the ICC, they only looked at it from the prism of the macro governance structure. The problems within the ICC is more deep rooted. It stems from the entrenched bureacracy who work behind the scenes.

It is not just the staff at the ICC HQ in Dubai, but those who operate out of the four regional offices in Johannesburg, London, Toronto and Melbourne. All the functioning of these offices are now on Raman's radar. Add the staff component from the regional centres to the 70 odd manning the Dubai HQ totals around 105; plus there are the umpires and match referees. 

Whatever the merits of the case against Raman, what he is up to as part of the global campaign to streamline the ICC's functioning is vital. The game is as much about the players as about the administrators. In the case of the ICC it is as much about the Board level games as it is about the management structure of the world governing body.

ICC's functioning requires a thorough review because very often there is a tendency to believe that all is well. Comfort zone is a wonderful place to be in, but it is not a place meant for long-term stay.

 

This column is penned by an Industry Veteran who chooses to remain anonymous for reasons that it would compromise his corporate position if he were to reveal his identity. The only remit that SportzPower has given The Insider is this - that the commentary should have no compromise on fact and that the effort should be directed towards the betterment of sport and the institutions that represent sport.

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